CATIA (Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application) is a multi-platform CAD/CAM/CAE commercial software suite written in the C++ programming language. CATIA was developed by a French company known as Dassault Systemes, and CATIA is included in Dassault Systemes' product lifecycle management software suite. CATIA supports multiple stages of product development, from conceptualization, design (CAD), manufacturing (CAM), and engineering (CAE). CATIA facilitates collaborative engineering across disciplines, including surfacing and shape design, mechanical engineering, equipment and systems engineering. CATIA can be applied to a wide variety of industries, from aerospace and defense, automotive, and industrial equipment, to high tech, shipbuilding, consumer goods, plant design, consumer packaged goods, life sciences, architecture and construction, process power and petroleum, and services.
When the CATIA client software program runs, it reads pre-defined settings (known as CATSettings) that are stored in files referred to as .CATSetting files (or .CatSetting files or CATSettings files) to determine how CATIA looks and acts. CATSettings are used to control many different options and features within CATIA, including many options and features which the end user may take for granted but may be nonetheless critical. For example, one CATSetting may keep track of a user's setup options such as the options that are accessible via the “Tools>Options” menu. Other CATSettings may control the appearance and functionality of toolbar locations, starting windows, the location of help documents and even licensing and access information. Other CATSettings may control whether an end user sees certain measurements in metric or English units. Yet other CATSettings may control and/or limit the way that end products are designed using the CATIA tool, such as the way curves behave when an engineer is drawing a structure or other design features used to create an engineering model.
CATSettings are permanent (unless changed) settings which are stored inside of files (.CATSetting files) that are normally stored on the local machine of the client/end user. Because these files and settings are permanent, they are retained on the end user's computer between sessions, and therefore will not typically change unless intentionally altered or deleted.
If for some reason these CATSettings are misconfigured or become corrupt, an end user may run into many serious problems with the operation of his or her CATIA environment. Because the appearance and functionality of just about every feature in CATIA is affected in some way by CATSettings, incorrect or corrupt CATSettings can cause major headaches to end users and/or major setbacks to engineering projects. In some instances CATSettings can even become corrupted without any fault by a user. In fact, the makers of CATIA are aware of this issue and have at times recommended that users remove their CATSettings once every release and/or every service pack. Some users even remove their CATSettings every day, just to be safe.
Not only may a user need to check and update settings in order to avoid dealing with corrupted CATSettings, but also, companies may have specific requirements for many CATIA settings and often require that their engineers follow certain standards and settings. A company's model CATIA settings may change frequently either as a result of a new CATIA software release or as a result of company-initiated modifications.
At least some users of CATIA rely on approximately 3,000 settings that control how the software program looks and operates, and CATIA may come preloaded with default values for some or all of these settings. Each one of these settings may need to be checked manually and changed manually if needed. If a company changes their standards, a user or an administrator may need to manually change all the CATIA settings to comply with the standards change. Alternatively, if a new software version is released, an employee may need to manually check all the CATIA settings to make sure they comply with company standards. Additionally, a company may need to manage CATIA settings for numerous software products and user environments as well as numerous hardware platforms (for example, 32 and 64-bit).
Manually altering and checking CATIA settings is a tedious, slow, and error prone process, which could easily take several days to complete. Creating CATIA settings is time consuming because each setting must be created manually, and values must be assigned manually. Checking CATIA settings to ensure they are set as desired is also time consuming because it requires a manual comparison of each setting and value with the desired settings and values. Moreover, as mentioned above, if CATIA settings are entered incorrectly, CATIA may operate significantly differently than the user may require. Therefore, it is important for users of CATIA software to institute a procedure for dealing with their CATSetting so that settings can be entered and checked as quickly as possible with minimal errors.